Cold weld butt tool



June 9, 1959 w. A. BARNES 2,389,622

coLD WELD BUTT TOOL Filed D80. 16, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 a) INVENTOR.

I WILLIAM A. BARNES "27/ rdinl June 9, 1959 w. A. BARNES 2,889,622

COLD WELD'BUTT TOOL Filed Dec. 16, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 inn k mw hf" Wn FIG.8 t F39; I ,3 I6 ri WILLIAM A. BARNES 2/ KW m June 9, 1959 w. A.BARNES cow WELD BUTT TOOL Filed Dec. 16, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG.6

INVENTOR. WILLIAM A. BARNES United States Patent COLD WELD BUTT TOOLWilliam A. Barnes, Utica, N.Y., assignor to Kelsey-Hayes Company, acompany of Delaware Application December 16, 1957, Serial No. 703,220

1 Claim. (Cl. 30-233) This invention relates in general to preparationof metal members for uniting by controlled conditions of pressure andconfinement of fiow to produce a solid phase bond at a temperature lessthan the normal welding temperature thereof, and relates morespecifically to a cutting tool for the performance of such preparation.

This application is a continuation-in-part of William A. Barnes, SerialNo. 348,069, filed April 10, 1953, which application has been abandonedin favor of this application. This application relates quite closely tothe subject matter found in the application of William A. Barnes et al.,Serial No. 695,986, filed November 12, 1957. The specific center-stopfeature of this invention is shown in applicants issued Patent No.2,779,954. That patent is limited to specific blade formation featuresfor preparing the end of workpieces, but shows the center-stop featureof this teaching, which was filed earlier.

The union of two metallic members by the use of controlled cold flow ofthe metal structures, is a relatively recent accomplishment insofar asreducing the basic principles to a practical and useable procedure isconcerned. It has long been known that metal can flow at roomtemperature under proper conditions of loading. It is possible that theuniting, or welding, of two metal objects by controlled application ofhigh pressure at room temperature has been known. However, the reductionof this knowledge to a practical level has only recently beenaccomplished.

Some metals will actually diffuse in such manner that a polished sectionof the union will not reveal a distinct junction between the twooriginal members. Other metals have a distinct line dividing theoriginal members. It has not definitely been determined what the natureof the union is in this line. It is definitely established, however,that an exceptionally strong union is produced between the two originalmembers whether or not there is an actual diffusion. It is not theconcern of the present invention whether the union is achieved by actualdiffusion or some other phenomena of metal union, but rather with theresults obtained. Accordingly, in this specification and in the claim,reference will be made to a union between members caused by controlledcold flow of the metal structures, or to a cold weld. It is not intendedthat this invention should be limited by the choice of words to describethe junction between the members.

Therefore, the object of this invention is to provide an improvedspacing and surface preparation tool to provide clean ends on twoworkpieces to be joined, and to properly space the workpieces withrespect to one another and to the die faces, in a cold-weld butt weldingtool.

Other objects and a fuller understandingof the invention may be had byreferring to the following description and claim, taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a hand type tool for cold welding buttjoints in wire, the principles of this invention being incorporated inthe construction and use thereof; 1

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken substantially as indicated by line2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an exploded view of one split conical die and its actuatingspring, as employed in the die holders in the tool of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a view as shown in Figure 2, and in addition illustrates aremovable type of a spacing and surface preparation tool in the positionassumed by the tool when attached to the cold-weld tool in preparationof the workpieces prior to operation of the cold-weld tool;

Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the spacing and surfacepreparation tool;

Figure 6 is a sectional view of both tools taken along line 66 of Figure4;

Figure 7 is a sectional view of the cold-Weld tool only, but taken alongline 6--6 of Figure 5, showing the dies closed upon the two wires andthe wires at the moment of upset and cold welding, and;

Figure 8 is a view of the cold-weld tool opened and the conical diesparted ready to remove the workpieces as a single cold-welded unitpiece.

In the drawings there is represented a hand type tool for cold weldingbutt joints in a wire. The tool is represented generally by thereference character 10. The prmciples of the present invention can applyequally well to power driven, hand, and bench types of tool.

The tool 10 has a carriage 11 and a carriage 12. The carriage 11 has afront face wall 13 and the carriage 12 has a front face wall 14. Thecarriages 11 and 12 are mounted for relative movement toward and awayfrom one another along a fixed path of reciprocation with the front facewalls thereof facing one another.

In the embodiment of the invention as the tool 10, the carnage 11 issecured in a fixed position upon a handle 15 for convenience. The handle15 is provided with a slot 16 similar in many respects to thelongitudinal slot of a conventional sliding side jaw wrench. In fact,the carriages 11 and 12 are analogous to the fixed and movable jaw of aconventional sliding side jaw wrench. The carriage 12 is provided with ajaw guide rail or key 17 to fit into the slot 16 and reciprocatelongitudinally therein. The carriages 11 and 12 are further aligned withrespect to one another by means of a guide dowel pin 40 which may becarried by one of the carriages and fit slidably into a socket of theother.

In order to drive the front wall faces 13 and 14 toward one another, alinkage drive mechanism is provided to force the key 17 to movelongitudinally in the slot 16. The drive mechanism comprises generally ahandle lever 13 pivotally carried at the end by means of a pivot 20 asillustrated best in Figure 1 of the drawing. A link 19 is pivotallysecured to the handle lever 18 by means of a pivot 21, and is pivotallysecured to the handle 15 by means of a pivot 22. It can be seen from theillustration in Figure 1 of the drawings that the linkage thus providedaffords a fast movement of the carriage 12 toward the carriage 11 duringthe first portion of the movement, with relatively low driving force.The speed of advance of the carriage 12 rapidly decreases as itapproaches carriage 11, but the power multiplies rapidly. This type oflinkage drive is well known and understood, and need not be furtherdescribed except to point out that the amount of pressure which will beexerted be.- tween carriage members 11 and 12 is exceedingly high. I

Each of the carriages 11 and 12 are substantially identical except forthe fact that one is preferably stationarily mounted and the other isreciprocally driven. Accord ingly, the construction of carriage 12 andits associated die parts will be explained, and it will be understoodthat the construction of the carriage and associated die parts of thecarriage 11 is substantially identical.

The carriage 12 has a slot 25 running longitudinally thereof withrespect to the direction of reciprocation, as best shown in Figure 2.The slot has a mouth portion 26 and a tapered die bed portion 27. Anyparticular cross section of the slot 25 will be substantially key-holeshape with a small mouth and a large die bed portion. The tapered diebed portion 27 opens in the front face wall 14 and tapers rearwardlythrough the carriage 12.

A split die 20 resides within the slot 25 of the carriage 12. A similarsplit die 31 is provided in the carriage 11. The die 39 is conical inshape and comprises two sections 32 and 33. The section 32 has alongitudinally extending clamping passageway cavity 34 extending axiallyalong the mating face of the section 32. 1 The section 33 has a similarclamping passageway cavity extending axially along the mating surfacethereof, this cavity being indicated by the reference character 35.Together the cavities 34 and 35 define a longitudinal opening throughthe axis of the conical die 30. The passageway is formed to clamp around wire of one particular size. However, the cavities can be formedto clamp any shape of workpiece including Wires having odd shapedsurfaces and also including ribbons and similar type workpieces. Anylongitudinal member which is to be butt-welded on an end of theworkpiece can be held in suitable clamping cavities within the die 30.

The tapered die bed 27 and the split die 30 are of the same taper butare larger than the taper which would cause a locking of the die withinthe die bed. However, the tapered fit between the die and the die bedpermits a tight clamping of the split die upon a workpiece to hold theworkpiece in an excellent gripping action. The more force placed uponthe large end of the split die 30 the greater will be its holding actionso long as the mating surfaces are not in actual contact.

The faces of the split dies 30 and 31 are recessed by upset cavities 36and 37 respectively. The form of these cavities can best be seen inFigure 6. These cavities are termed upset cavities although theirfunction is not merely to provide an upset on the end of a workpiece,but are designed to produce a cold weld butt joint according to theprinciples of such cold welding.

Tapered dies and die bed holders are not necessarily new because of thevery recent development of practical knowledge concerning cold welding.However, whenever a tapered die is employed for the purpose of holding aworkpiece as the workpiece is formed against the surface of the die,there must be a provision for removing the workpiece. In the case ofjoining two longitudinal workpieces in end-to-end butt weldedrelationship, it is simple enough to insert the workpiece through thedie from the back end thereof, but it is not possible to withdraw theworkpiece after the end has been upset and accordingly, other means forremoving the workpiece must be provided. In the embodiment of the toolas illustrated, provision for removing the workpiece is made by havingthe slot 25 with the mouth 26 opening to the surface of the carriage.Therefore, by advancing the split die 30 forward out of the tapered diebed 27, lateral movement of the sections 32 and 33 can take place tosuch a degree that the workpiece can be lifted out of the die throughthe mouth 26.

In modern industry, it is undesirable to require a considerable amountof time and patience on the part of the workmen in operating andpositioning tool parts entirely by hand. In fact, if the properpositioning of the dies were done manually, very often the dies wouldfall out of the tool or would be improperly returned to operatingposition within the tool, or both. Therefore, in the present embodimentof the invention, there is provided a spring device 23 anchored andguided by means of a retainer 24 as illustrated best in Figure 2 of thedrawing. This spring device 23 is illustrated as one integral piece ofspring steel wire bent as illustrated in Figure 2 to provide a loopedarm portion 28 and a looped arm portion 29 encompassing a portion theface of the split die 30. The arms 28 and 29 preferably lay against theface wall of the carriage. The dies 30 and 31 project beyond the facewalls 13 and 14, and, therefore, the spring arm will not interfere withfull pressure contact of the dies. Near the opposite side of the splitdie from the anchor side, the arm portions are each provided with a hookend; The hook end is indicated by the reference character 38 on armportion 28 and by the reference character 39 on the arm portion 29. Thisconstruction of the spring device is best illustrated in Figure 3 of thedrawing.

Also in Figure 3 of the drawing, it can be seen that the die sections 32and 33 are recessed along the top edge thereof as indicated by referencecharacters 48 and 49. These recesses provide space for the hook ends 38and 39 and thereby hold the spring device 23 and the die sections 32 and33 against longitudinal shifting of the die sections with respect to thehook ends.

The spring device 23 is stressed to provide an outwardly acting forceupon the die sections 32 and 33 tending to spread the sections apart,particularly at the top thereof adjacent the mouth portion 26 of slot25. Furthermore, the spring device has a tendency to urge the die 30back into the tapered die bed 27, although not with appreciable force.Thus, although the die 30 can be readily shifted within the die bed 27,it cannot be unintentionally removed therefrom. Furthermore, as the die30 is moved in a direction out of the die bed 27, the sections 32 and 33thereof are parted properly to withdraw a workpiece. Therefore, withrespect to the tool illustrated in Figure 1, the operator can reacharound both carriages 11 and 12 with one hand and press gently on thesmall end of the dies 30 and 31 and cause the dies to advance and open.With the other hand the operator can lift the completed butt weld wirefrom the tool. I

As previously indicated, the tool illustrated in Figure 1 is intendedprimarily for driving the ends of two workpieces, such for example asaluminum or copper wires, together under controlled conditions of highpressure and confined flow in such a manner as to cause the wires tocold weld by flowing together at a temperature less than the usualthermal Welding temperature. However, i in order to cause a properwelding, the surfaces being welded must be thoroughly cleaned. In theembodiment of the invention illustrated, the workpieces are in the formof wires 56 and 57.

The wires must be clamped by the split dies 30 and 31 with the wireprojecting from the face thereof an exact distance sufficient to cause aproper flow of the metal in the upset cavities 36 and 37. There must notbe too much wire or too little wire, and the amounts must be equallydivided between the two wires being joined, for like materials. Whenjoining unlike materials, the ratios are suitably divided. Furthermore,the ends of the wire which abut must be absolutely clean and free of anyoxide or contaminating film.

In order to assure an exact proper spacing and relationship of the wires56 and 57 with one another and in respect to their particular splitdies, and also to provide the necessary clean surface, a spacing andsurface preparation plier tool 41 is provided. The construction of thetool plier 41 is illustrated best in Figures 4, 5, and 6 of the drawing.

The plier tool 41, in its preferred'form, has a hook 42 to catch aroundthe guide dowel pin 40. The dowel pin 40 then serves as a pivot pointand anchor to properly guide the plier tool 41 and hold it firmly inproper position between the dies 30 and 31. In the construction of theplier 41 as illustrated, the hook 42 is an integral part of the handle44. A section of reduced width between the hook 42 and the handle 44serves as a bumper plate 43. In other words, the hook serves as aconvenient guide for positioning the bumper plate 43 betweenthe dies 30and 31, and the handle 44 serves as a holding means.

The bumper plate 43, whether constructed in one piece with the hook andhandle as illustrated, or separately fabricated, nevertheless isprovided to block the passage between dies 30 and 31. The wires 56 and57 are inserted from the rear of the dies 30 and 31 and it has beenfound that operators of this type of mechanism may thrust one of thewires almost against the face of the opposite die. Consequently, thewire coming through the other die projects a very short distance. Theburnper plate 43 assures an even distribution and proportioning of theworkpieces.

The plier tool 41 is provided with oppositely disposed work receivingshear plates 45 and 46 secured to the handle 44 by means of rivets 47.The plates 45 and 46 bridge between the wide hook 42 and the wide handle44 and therefore define slotted chambers in conjunction with theopposite side of bumper plate 43.

Each of the work receiving shear plates is provided with a cutting notch50 having a wide guiding entrance mouth 51 and having an apex formed asa cutting die portion indicated by the reference character 52.

The shearing action is provided by a shear 60 having spaced shear blades61 and 64 operating within the space between the work receiving shearplates and the surface of the bumper plate. A handle 62 provides foractuation of the blades. A common pivot pin 53 extends through both workreceiving shear plates 45 and 46, through both shear blades 61 and 64,and through the bumper plate 43 to give a strongly constructed pivotabout which the shear 60 may operate. In operation, the plier tool 41 ishooked under the dowel pin 40 and pivoted into a rest position, asillustrated in Figure 4, against the bed of the tool 10. In thisposition, the plier tool 41 is held in a tightly fixed relationship withrespect to the tool 10. The operator can hold both the handle 15 of thetool and the handle 44 of the plier tool 41 with one hand and therebyprovide a firmrelationship. Although the separable hook construction isillustrated, a permanently attached tool may be provided and swung abouta fixed pivot, if desired.

When held firmly as illustrated in Figure 4, the bumper plate 43 willprevent the extension of the wires beyond their desired limit. After thewires 56 and 57 have been advanced against the bumper plate 43, thehandle and the handle lever 18 are closed with a moderate force to pushthe tapered dies 30 and 31 against the outer face of the work receivingshear plates 45 and 46, and thereby cause a preliminary gripping actionupon the wirm. Thereafter, the handle 62 is depressed against the urgeof a convenient spring 63 to shear the ends of the wires 56 and 57. Ifthe ends of the Wires are not properly located in the apex 52, the widemouth portion 51 and the closing action of the blades 61 and 64 willmove the wire ends into the apex and shear the ends as the blades passthe apex.

In the use of the tool 10 in actual production, there is a need for amoderate amount of speed in producing the welded joints. Consequently,it has been found that it is possible for the shear ends of the workpieces to lodge between the front face walls 13 and 14 and preventproper closing of the carriages 11 and 12 to produce the cold weld. Insuch an event, there is an annoying delay until the wires can be handtrimmed and the entire process repeated. By the construction of theplier tool 41 as illustrated and described, the trimmed ends are caughtbetween the surfaces of the work receiving shear plates and the bumperplate by the shear blades 61 and 64. Cutting is accomplished by theshear blades moving backward-1y into the space between the workreceiving shear plate and the bumper plate. Furthermore, when used inthe position as illustrated in Figure 4, the cutting is in an upperdirection. Consequently, the trimmed ends we held within the plier tool41 until the plier tool is turned over and the trimmed ends shaken out.These features alone remove a source of annoying and costly delay in theproduction of welded butt joints in commercial practice.

Although the invention has been described in its preferred form with acertain degree of particularity, it is understood that the presentdisclosure of the preferred form has been made only by way of exampleand that numerous changes in the details of construction and thecombination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit and the scope of the invention as hereinafterclaimed.

What is claimed is:

In a workpiece holding device adapted to grip a workpiece with theworkpiece projecting therefrom, and which requires the workpiece toproject an exact distance from the holding device, the improvement whichcomprises, a cutting tool for preparing and conditioning the workpieceheld by the holding device, said tool having a central division platebumper block, a first and a second work receiving shear plate positionedlaterally of said bumper block, a first shear blade movable in a shearaction between said first work receiving shear plate and the bumperblock, a second shear blade movable in a shear action between saidsecond work receiving shear plate and the bumper block, means to drivesaid first and second blades "in said shear action path, said first andsecond work receiving shear blocks being laterally spaced and presentingone side of the first block as an abutment surface and the one side ofthe second block as another abutment surface, said abutment surfacesbeing laterally spaced and in substantially parallel relationship, saidfirst and second work receiving shear blocks having aligned throughpassageway spaces to accept workpieces for shearing action, and saidcentral plate positioned to block oif the aligned through passageway toprevent extension of workpieces fully through the tool.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,779,954 Barnes Feb. 5, 1957

